The Complete Fuzzy

Hi all,

Over the holidays I decided to read another one of those authors who's name I knew, but work was a mystery to me. That author was H. Beam Piper. He's got quite a loyal following and I had read about how influential he was on other authors so I thought I'd give him a try. Some of his best known books are the Fuzzy books, all three of which were collected in the omnibus edition that I read titled The Complete Fuzzy. The actual book titles are Little Fuzzy, Fuzzy Sapiens and Fuzzies and Other People.

The first book is about the discovery of the Fuzzies, a small race of humanoids that live on a planet which is being actively exploited by a mining company. The first of the race to be discovered by a human is dubbed Little Fuzzy, because it's probably the most descriptive name for the species. Little Fuzzy is part of a small family group of aliens which quickly adapt to life with their human master and start copying some of his vices, like smoking cigarettes and drinking cocktails which I guess is a normal practice for a book written in the early 60s.

The entire story hinges on the fact that the mining company that has the mineral rights to the planet will have them revoked if it can be proved that the Fuzzies are sapient beings. Much of the book plays out in a court where the two sides try to argue their points.

The next book, Fuzzy Sapiens, kind of gives away the ending of the first book through the title alone. They probably should have kept the original title, The Other Human Race. It deals with the new society being forged on the planet that melds humans and Fuzzies and centers around the observation that the Fuzzy race is not reproducing at a sustainable rate and is there a solution to that problem.

The final book was actually published in 1984, 20 years after Piper had committed suicide. It's not a case of one of those rejected manuscripts getting published posthumously. It was simply lost after his death and only came to light decades later. In some ways, I think it is the best of the three. It has a bit more action in it and gives part of the story from the point of view of the Fuzzies and, like the first, features a court case that helps clarify the Fuzzies place in the planet's new constitution.

All in all, these are well-written books that are easy to read, yet are filled with interesting philosophical and legal ideas. The characters are well drawn and utterly believable. These books flow so easily that it's hard to put them down once you begin. I would definitely recommend them to any fan of intelligent science fiction. At some point, I'm going to have to take another look at the collection of Piper books that I have languishing on my shelves.

Capt. Xerox